We sit at the beginning of a New Year, as the daily routines of family life, school and work, the Church calendar and all the other things that fill our days get going again after the last couple of weeks.
We look forward to the known events in our lives, those already in our diaries;
some full of joyous anticipation; happy family events, holidays ….
some full of anxiety and dread; planned operations, ……..
We look forward to the known unknowns, those things we know lie ahead this year BUT we don’t know how they will turn out;
How will the presbytery plan affect us?
How will exam results affect young lives?
How will the decreasing budgets affect our lives in our city and country? ……..
And we look forward to the unknown unknowns, those things that we have no idea about BUT can unexpectedly turn up to be dealt with and which turn our lives upside down, moving us in a different direction.
At New Year we often have this reading which follows our Advent Sundays theme:-
“God Knows”
by Minnie Louise Haskins (1875-1957)
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East
Sunrise in Bangladesh